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As leppie said, MSDN and the Internet.
Marc
Pensieve
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I'm so glad my bookshelves didn't see your foul language. 
Jeremy Falcon
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Marc Clifton wrote: As leppie said, MSDN and the Internet.
Yeah, those are good. But then, sometimes, i want accurate information... 
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That's what Wikipedia is for... 
[ducks, runs for cover]
¡El diablo está en mis pantalones! ¡Mire, mire!
Real Mentats use only 100% pure, unfooled around with Sapho Juice(tm)!
SELECT * FROM User WHERE Clue > 0
0 rows returned
Save an Orange - Use the VCF!
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Sheesh!
I use my slightly in need-of-an-update library( http://www.toasty0.com/library.aspx[^].) Doesn't mean I don't use MSDN, or CP, or GotDotNet, it just means I don't have to settle for just those resources.
"Art doesn't want to be familiar. It wants to astonish us. Or, in some cases, to enrage us. It wants to move us. To touch us. Not accommodate us, make us comfortable." -- Jamake Highwater
Toasty0.com
My Grandkids
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If you see a developer with a bunch of books (that they actually use) it means they don't really know what they are doing.
E=mc2 -> BOOM
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Unfortunately, I am called upon to do PL/SQL, T-SQL, ASP.NET, web services, etc. all in a day. I am often asked to go above and beyond by doing DBA activities or attempt other new things. My value is not in the specific technical syntax knowledge, but in knowing what is possible and how to put things together to form an effective system. The books help me to quickly determine the proper syntax and APIs.
I don't hire people that can quote chapter and verse, but those that can communicate and can put together effective systems regardless of the specific technology. Use of books, which are often better than on-line documentation, shows that the candidate is willing to learn and stretch.
--Peter
Peter Kryszak
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OH NO YOU DIDN'T!
Don't make me smack you upside the head with my 1,269 page Professional XML bible!
"Never leave your Wingman!"
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Yeah.
It's much better to have developers who always work from memory, never check assumptions as to how an API should be used, and will spend six hours re-implementing OS or library routines because they forgot that the standard ones exist... 
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Hmm. I have a bunch of books (13) on my shelf that I actually use; 2-3 of them at least weekly, and the rest fairly often. I use Webster's Dictionary almost daily. Once a week or so I end up using The C++ Programming Language, 3rd edition by Bjarne Stroustrup to look up some language feature (especially if I haven't used it in a while).
Do I know what I'm doing? I think so. Apparently my employer thinks so as well, given that they've kept me here for over 15 years, and I've gotten better-than-average raises every year.
Our field is far too rich and deep to carry around in your head. That means you have to have an external source of information. A lot of the time that means the web. There is a lot of satisfaction in having a physical book in your hands, however. Also, unlike the web, a book doesn't crash* just when you need it.
* Our corporate network was down for over an hour this morning, so everything came to a screeching halt.
Software Zen: delete this;
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Strange...I taught myself everything i know from books, never even went to school for progrmaing. I know 12+ languages and am working for a company called Advanced Electronic Solutions because for some strange reason they think i might know what im doing despite my strange habits of always trying to learn more by reading books and trying new things...man what crazy people they are
Pablo
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I learned from books too. But I guess my point was that if you hire an asp.net developer I would expect that developer to already know how to write for asp.net and not have to use a book. Being a developer you have to be able to learn quickly and be able to research what you don't know. Seldom do I find that information in books. MSDN, Google or whatever tend to be much better as books tend to be very basic implementation of the technology.
If you saw your plumber looking at a book when he fixed your sink would you be very confident in his ability?
E=mc2 -> BOOM
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SMACK!
"Never leave your Wingman!"
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Albert Einstein. wrote: If you saw your plumber looking at a book when he fixed your sink would you be very confident in his ability?
#1 Plumbing is WAY more standard than ANY app development every will be.
#2 I don't hire plumbers, I do it all myself. Oh and guess what? I read from books while I do my plumbing.
3# It would not be bad thing if the sinks were linked together using SOAP and a message structure he may not be familiar with because he did not design it in the first place.
My Blog[^]
FFRF[^]
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Albert Einstein. wrote: Being a developer you have to be able to learn quickly and be able to research what you don't know
So clearly I've been using my books for the wrong reason then.
cheers,
Chris Maunder
CodeProject.com : C++ MVP
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Yes. It's a darned wonder I can write this reply even!
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Albert Einstein. wrote: asp.net developer
Web designers may be a different bunch alltogether...
Albert Einstein. wrote: If you saw your plumber looking at a book when he fixed your sink would you be very confident in his ability?
On the contrary I would really hate to see a airplane mechanic *not* looking into the plane vendors repair instructions before doing anything more complex than doing a visual funktion check.
Or a pilot skipping all the checklists because he did it so often before.
"We trained hard, but it seemed that every time we were beginning to form up into teams we would be reorganised. I was to learn later in life that we tend to meet any new situation by reorganising: and a wonderful method it can be for creating the illusion of progress, while producing confusion, inefficiency and demoralisation."
-- Caius Petronius, Roman Consul, 66 A.D.
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Al,
The *real* Albert Einstein didn't keep a bunch of details in his head. He didn't even memorize his own address. He kept it written down... in a <gasp!> book.
Then, maybe he didn't know what HE was doing and had us all fooled.
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Albert Einstein. wrote: If you see a developer with a bunch of books (that they actually use) it means they don't really know what they are doing.
But you yourself look things up:
One of Einstein's colleagues asked him for his telephone number one day. Einstein reached for a telephone directory and looked it up. "You don't remember your own number?" the man asked, startled.
"No," Einstein answered. "Why should I memorize something I can so easily get from a book?"
I use books for three things:
1. To learn something new
2. To discover a new perspective on something I already know
3. To look up something that I know roughly how to do, but cannot remember the details
Graham
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What a weird thought.
A programmer is not supposed to know everything about everything. The area is way to large... However he's supposed to know where to find the information he need when he need it, either in a book or on internet...
And personnally I much prefer read an article in a book than on a web page (and if it's on a web page, I print it, read it, and archive it in a folder... which might look like a big giant book to you... arrrrrgghhhhh  )
-- modified at 14:18 Thursday 9th February, 2006
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Hello,
A good developer is not someone who knows every quirck, inside info, etc. about his or her work area. Instead, a good developer is someone who knows what is living in the world these days and knows where to find more detailed information if something tends to be usefull. The second requirement for a good developer is to know how to use the technologies that are usefull for the given problem area.
Your description fits the small group of the so-called 'nerds' who lived in a time that I would like to call history...
Behind every great black man...
... is the police. - Conspiracy brother
Blog[^]
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Albert Einstein. wrote: it means they don't really know what they are doing
seems that you don't really know what you're saying... 
TOXCCT >>> GEII power
[toxcct][VisualCalc 2.20][VCalc 3.0 soon...]
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For me it largely depends on who paid for the books. Books which I have bought for myself, I will read first at home, and then usually label up and leave at work on my desk. Books which are paid for by work I usually read at home, and then eventually take them back into the office, by which time everyone thinks they were bought by me.
I have a complete set of Visual C++ Manuals (version 1.0 I think) that I keep in my loft. It's sometimes nice to flick through the pages rather than try to read stuff on-line, even though they are old, but they take up a lot of room, and weigh too much to carry around.
Mmm, why the heck am I keeping them? Does anyone want them?
"The way of a fool seems right to him, but a wise man listens to advice" - Proverbs 12:15 (NIV)
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That's jsut what I do!
If the company has bought me the book, I leave it in the office. My own books stay at home.
_________________________________
Please inform me about my English mistakes, as I'm still trying to learn your language!
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I read the books usually at home (for the first time). Thats the only place I can effort time for reading a book.
After reading a book, there are four places:
1. A bookshelf directly above my monitor, so I just lean forward and pick it (for the real good books)
2. A bookshelf in my office at the door I have to get up and take a walk of 4m (for the books that are good but not sooo good and not so frequently in use)
3. There is my box for the stuff to sell in ebay (for the books that I would never buy again)
4. There is the mystic place somewhere in the offices (maybe on bookshelves of my my colleagues) where the books are that I mostly need to look something important up, and in most cases I am unable to find this place (usually the very best books are there)
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